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Does Barack Obama Have a Learning Disability?
American Thinker ^
| July 23, 2010
| Michael Applebaum, MD
Posted on 07/23/2010 3:03:18 PM PDT by neverdem
Does Barack Obama have a learning disability (LD)? It seems like an outlandish question to ask, but the actions of President Obama suggest that he may suffer from one. Consider:
Learning
Learning is "the cognitive process of acquiring skill or knowledge."
Intelligence is defined as
capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity; aptitude in grasping truths, relationships, facts, meanings, etc. or
1 a (1) : the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations
: reason;
also :the skilled use of reason
(2) : the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests)
There is a relationship between learning and intelligence.
Intelligence is measurable.
IQ tests "are designed to measure your general ability to solve problems and understand concepts. This includes reasoning ability, problem-solving ability, ability to perceive relationships between things and ability to store and retrieve information."
It follows that a
learning disability affects a person's capacity or ability to learn or understand, to grasp truths, facts, meanings, and relationships. So what demonstrations of LD can we find in Obama?
Presidential Appointments
The president has recruited a number of key appointments who appear to have LDs.
According to the definition she accepts and publishes, she is a
health illiterate: "Health literacy is the ability of an individual to access, understand, and use health-related information and services to make appropriate health decisions."
Somewhere along the bucket brigade of learning -- i.e., "access, understand, and use health-related information" -- all the water spilled, since she certainly failed to "make appropriate health decisions." Hence, her self-recognized and personally lamentable fatness.
Clearly in the domain of sick care, health illiteracy despite medical training is evidence of an LD.
Holder is pursuing a lawsuit alleging that "the state of Arizona's recently passed immigration law, S.B. 1070" "unconstitutionally interferes with the federal government's authority to set and enforce immigration policy."
However, during a House Judiciary Committee meeting, Holder
admitted to not having read the law, despite
repeatedly voicing concerns about it, especially about "
racial profiling." His statements must have been based on hearsay.
Holder's
bio states that he attended law school and is in the practice of law.
Holder should have acquired a grasp of hearsay, absent an LD.
Geithner is a person who demonstrated an
inability to properly do his own taxes even with the help of a mass-market consumer tax preparation
software package used by people without a financial background.
It would be expected that a person nominated for Treasury Secretary would be able to figure out how to do taxes, unless an LD was present.
Clearly, BHO was unable to learn how to recognize individuals qualified for appointment.
The Supreme Court and Professorship of Law
BHO
claims to have been a professor of constitutional law.
[BHO] ... has regularly referred to himself as "a constitutional law professor," most famously at a March 30, 2007, fundraiser when he said, "I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president I actually respect the Constitution."
He was not really a law professor. He was a "
senior lecturer," though the
University of
Chicago (U of C),
where BHO served as a senior lecturer, claims that he was "regarded as" a professor.
Persons
other than constitutional law professors claim respect for the Constitution. Absent an LD, certainly at some point in his career, BHO should have learned that respect for the Constitution is not limited to law professors or senior lecturers -- e.g.,
The Founders.
... last week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will open the floodgates for special interests -- including foreign corporations -- to spend without limit in our elections.
It would appear that a U of C "constitutional law professor" did not learn how to analyze U.S. law. (
BHO also should have learned about hearsay during his legal training, absent an LD.)
ADHD
In 1972, Jeremiah Wright
became pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. BHO became a member in 1988.
BHO admits that Wright was his spiritual leader,
married him to Michelle, and baptized his children. BHO
took them to Trinity United Church for sermons.
Assuming he cares about his children, it is reasonable to expect that he would have paid attention to the words from the pulpit and been aware of what his kids' spirits were being fed.
He did not and was not.
Further, assuming the same, one would have expected conversations between parents and children discussing the contents of the sermons, their takeaway lessons, what his children may have learned from their friends in attendance, etc.
It stretches credulity that in about twenty years' worth of attendance (around 1,040 Sundays, though he claims not to have gone
every week), a number of them with children in tow, BHO never heard Wright speak "controversially" or learned of Wright's positions, either directly at church or indirectly from family, friends, newsletters, etc
Never -- unless BHO suffered from LD, or perhaps
ADHD (or mendacity). ADHD is considered by
many not to be a learning disability. However, LD can
coexist with ADHD. And ADHD can be an
adult condition, possibly from an undiagnosed childhood ADHD.
This could explain how over the many years BHO spent attending church, the nature of Wright's sermons eluded him.
Anyway, LD, ADHD, ADHD-associated LD, or a combination, the presence of a condition inimical to learning is problematic. Those who believe in the exceptional nature of the office might say that this is even truer in the case of the presidency.
It is not beyond possibility that an episode or episodes of inattention or inability to understand will compromise the nation.
Perhaps one already has.
In the matter of the Gulf oil spill, some have suggested that
presidential inattentiveness contributed substantially to the suffering and damage. Although others might argue that the delay was a variation of a brilliant political move (
H. L. Mencken: "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be led to safety] by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."),
James Carville, renowned for his political acumen, certainly felt otherwise.
The Harvard Counter-Argument
Some might argue that BHO's attendance at Harvard Law where he graduated
magna cum laude is conclusive evidence against an LD.
They would be wrong.
Despite his pedestrian undergraduate achievements, Harvard Law gave him entry -- some suggest under
intriguing circumstances.
He was elected to the editorial staff of the Harvard Law Review (HLR).
Until the 1970's the editors were picked on the basis of grades, and the president of the Law Review was the student with the highest academic rank....
That system came under attack in the 1970's and was replaced by a program in which about half the editors are chosen for their grades and the other half are chosen by fellow students after a special writing competition. The new system, disputed when it began, was meant to help insure that minority students became editors of The Law Review.
...the Review has two other goals. First, the journal is designed to be an effective research tool for practicing lawyers and students of the law. Second, it provides opportunities for Review members to develop their own editing and writing skills.
Without a "paper trail" to evaluate his abilities, basically only his grades remain. His Harvard transcript was
never released (neither were the Occidental and Columbia transcripts). His graduation magna cum laude appears uncontroverted.
And if one were to assert that the grades are still from Harvard, and the world regards these students as America's best, even BHO himself would have to assert that
he "believes in Harvard exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the students at
University of Bridgeport believe in
Bridgeport exceptionalism" -- i.e., there is nothing special about a Harvard grade.
This essay is not offered as a professional diagnosis.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: obama
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To: cll
This deserves a Pulitzer BUMP...
21
posted on
07/23/2010 3:34:09 PM PDT
by
cll
(I am the warrant and the sanction)
To: neverdem
He has:
1. An ugly wife with bad taste and a big ass.
2. A habit of whistling his 's's
3. A communist hatred of America
4. A drug habit.
22
posted on
07/23/2010 3:36:09 PM PDT
by
Doc Savage
(SOBAMP!)
To: neverdem
IMHO, Barrack Obama is doing exactly what he has been trained to do all of his relatively short life, and he is doing it rather skillfully. Do not underestimate Evil. You can only fight Evil with Good, and with Truth. God help us prevail against the Evil set loose within our borders. I doubt Obama cares what the people think of him. His very disregard tells me that knows something we do not know. See my tag line. Pray that we will have the opportunity to change the direction the country is being taken.
23
posted on
07/23/2010 3:38:12 PM PDT
by
Paperdoll
(REGISTER TO VOTE THEN DO IT RIGHT!)
To: neverdem
Ivy leagues are a big business. You get more money passing everyone in the short term than kicking people out. Who cares if you ruin your reputation over 30 years or so. The guy’s making the $ will be long retired, wealthy to the point of not caring, or dead by the time people catch on. Even then, just charge a lot and people will still clamor to get in.
24
posted on
07/23/2010 3:39:10 PM PDT
by
Tolsti2
To: neverdem
Two words I expected to see by now on this thread: Bell Curve
To: neverdem
Is this a trick question?
26
posted on
07/23/2010 3:43:29 PM PDT
by
bigredkitty1
(March 5,2010. Rest in peace, sweet boy. I will miss you, Big Red.)
To: neverdem
Yes, it’s was he passed because he was a minority!!!
To: kosciusko51
Bell Curve does not apply to minorities and liberal educators. Only applies to the poor white trash. LOL
To: neverdem
Somewhere along the bucket brigade of learning -- i.e., "access, understand, and use health-related information" -- all the water spilled, since she certainly failed to "make appropriate health decisions." Hence, her self-recognized and personally lamentable fatness. I think this detracts from his argument. Her weight is probably more a function of her genes than her food choices. Also, women do tend to put on weight with age.
As for Geithner, I doubt he lacked the ability to do his taxes. As a Turbotax user, I dont see how he could have screwed up the way he claimed. He had to override the program to do what he did.
29
posted on
07/23/2010 3:56:41 PM PDT
by
freespirited
(There are a lot of bad Republicans but there are no good Democrats.--Ann Coulter)
To: neverdem
he has SOS. Stuck on Stupid
30
posted on
07/23/2010 4:00:19 PM PDT
by
pissant
(THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
To: neverdem
Nah — he’s just a Marxist!
To: neverdem
How one is regarded does not always determine what one is. In this case, I'd have to disagree. I'm pretty sure he is what I regard him to be, but I don't want to get thrown off this forum for uttering the string of profanities I'd have to use to describe him.
To: neverdem; All
33
posted on
07/23/2010 4:08:11 PM PDT
by
musicman
(Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
To: LucyT
To: ZirconEncrustedTweezers
35
posted on
07/23/2010 4:20:18 PM PDT
by
Dr.Zoidberg
(Warning: Sarcasm/humor is always engaged. Failure to recognize this may lead to misunderstandings.)
To: neverdem
36
posted on
07/23/2010 4:27:56 PM PDT
by
4Liberty
( How do you spell "moral hazard"?: $ 19, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0.)
To: musicman
37
posted on
07/23/2010 4:28:58 PM PDT
by
4Liberty
( How do you spell "moral hazard"?: $ 19, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0.)
To: kosciusko51
Two words I expected to see by now on this thread: Bell Curve My first thought too. The book "angered" the left also. LOL
38
posted on
07/23/2010 4:31:25 PM PDT
by
Hillbillary
(I know how to deal with Communists, I still wear their scars on my back from Hollywood-Ronald Reagan)
To: pissant
Wait -- Teleprompters -- at a GRADE School appearance? . . . Really ?. . .
39
posted on
07/23/2010 4:33:28 PM PDT
by
4Liberty
( How do you spell "moral hazard"?: $ 19, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0.)
To: pissant
40
posted on
07/23/2010 4:36:56 PM PDT
by
4Liberty
( How do you spell "moral hazard"?: $ 19, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0, 0 0 0.)
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